1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a running stability control device of an automobile having front right, front left, rear right and rear left wheels, and a brake system for separately braking each of the wheels, wherein the running stability control device makes a control calculation based upon information with regard to the running conditions of the vehicle and automatically controls the brake system so as to apply a controlled braking to each of the wheels for the purpose of improving a running stability of the automobile.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Various inventions have been made and applied for patents in the art of applying a computer controlled braking to a selected one or ones of the front right, front left, rear right and rear left wheels of an automobile to improve running performance of the automobile from various view points, as described in, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication 8-80823 (corr. to U.S. Pat. No. 5,717,591), Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication 9-109851 (corr. to U.S. Pat. No. 5,707,120) and Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication 9-99821 (corr. to U.S. patent application 08/723,757).
In those prior inventions, a parameter indicating a liability of the automobile to an instability of running behavior such as a spin or a driftout is estimated by an electronic computer based upon a parameter or parameters representative of certain running conditions of the automobile, and a brake system is operated so as to apply a computer controlled braking to a selected one or ones of the front right, front left, rear right and rear left wheels so that the automobile is decelerated from entering into the instability and/or is applied with a turning moment generated in the automobile around the braked wheel or wheels to counteract the movement of the automobile toward the instability.